Two cats sitting in loaves on a concrete ledge at an apartment block in Ikeshima-machi, a brown tabby and a black and white.
Two cats sitting in loaves on a concrete ledge at an apartment block in Ikeshima-machi, a brown tabby and a black and white.

Two Loafing Cats

Provenance

Camera
Nikon F100
Film
Cinestill 800T · 35mm · ISO 800
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Two cats sitting in loaf position on a concrete ledge. A brown tabby on the left, eyes half closed. A black and white cat on the right looking at the camera. A pale rendered wall behind, stained. The ledge streaked with damp.

Edition
Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD
Size
Type
Colour
✓
Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.
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In situ

A tabby and a black and white cat loafed side by side on a stained concrete ledge at Ikeshima, with worn render walls meeting at a corner behind them.A tabby and a black and white cat loafed side by side on a stained concrete ledge at Ikeshima, with worn render walls meeting at a corner behind them.A tabby and a black and white cat loafed side by side on a stained concrete ledge at Ikeshima, with worn render walls meeting at a corner behind them.A tabby and a black and white cat loafed side by side on a stained concrete ledge at Ikeshima, with worn render walls meeting at a corner behind them.A tabby and a black and white cat loafed side by side on a stained concrete ledge at Ikeshima, with worn render walls meeting at a corner behind them.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Two Loafing Cats
Series
Ikeshima
Catalogue
IKE-049
Process
Giclée
Captured
17 January 2026
Camera
Nikon F100
Film
Cinestill 800T
Format
35mm
Film ISO
800
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Location
Ikeshima, Nagasaki, Japan
Recognised by
Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards
02 LOCATION

Ikeshima, Nagasaki, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Two of Ikeshima's cats sit tucked into loaves on a concrete ledge at the corner of an apartment block in Ikeshima-machi, a brown tabby on the left with its eyes half closed and a black and white cat on the right watching the camera. The rendered wall behind them is pale and stained, the ledge is streaked with damp, and nothing else moves in the frame. The island's cats have outlasted almost everyone: the people who fed them numbered about 7,770 at the peak in 1970 and 111 in 2021, and the cats have simply carried on.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Two of Ikeshima's cats sit tucked into loaves on a concrete ledge at the corner of an apartment block in Ikeshima-machi, a brown tabby on the left with its eyes half closed and a black and white cat on the right watching the camera. The rendered wall behind them is pale and stained, the ledge is streaked with damp, and nothing else moves in the frame.

Brett Patman

Ikeshima

The series

Ikeshima

1959 to 2001 · 54 photographs

Ikeshima Coal Mine operated beneath the seabed off Nagasaki from 1959 until 29 November 2001, making it the last new coal mine to open in Japan and the last large-scale underground colliery to close. At its 1970 peak the island held 7,770 residents on a 0.86 km² rock in the Gotō Sea, housed in company-built concrete towers above a mine that reached 650 m below sea level.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.

Anatomy · true ratio
07 MORE FROM IKESHIMA

53 other prints in this series

All prints
Dim office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, a white hard hat and a cup on two desks below a buckled venetian blind.
Hard Hat$100.00
View from an apartment window in Ikeshima-machi, utility pole and wires above silver grass with the Matsushima power station chimney across the sea.
Apartment Window$100.00
Window in the No. 2 Shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, glass gone and a creeper hanging in over the sill above the sea.
Ocean Outlook$100.00
Pithead bath in the No. 2 Shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, concrete troughs on a tiled floor with a vent fan on the far wall.
Pithead Bath$100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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